Device for disentangling and conveying flanged receptacles



J. PIERCE, JR. ETAL 3,348,655

DEVICE FOR DISENTANGLING AND CONVEYING. F LANGED RECEPTACLES 7 Sheets Sheet 1 I Filed Dec. 6, 1966 5 .M Y. MW. M T. l 3% M E T v w 7 M A I: r 1M mp 1967 c. J. PIERCE, JR.. ETAL 3,348,655

DEVICE FOR DISENTANGLING AND CONVEYING FLANGED RECEPTACLES Filed Dec. 6, 1966 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 N VENT 0R5. (hesfer J P/e/"ce, Jr. BY Lawrence J Pagendarm 1967 j c. J. PIERCE, JR.. ETAL 3,348,655

DEVICE FOR DISENTANGLING AND CONVEYING FLANGED RECEPTACLES Filed Dec. 6, 1966 '7 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORS. Chesfer J. Pierce, Jr: Y Lawrence J Pagendarm W W ATTORNEY Oct. 24, 1967 c. J. PIERCE, JR.. ETAL 3,3

DEVICE FOR DISENTANGLING AND CONVEYING FLANGED RECEPTACLES Filed Dec. 6, 1966 7 Sheets-$heet 4 INVENTORS. Chesfer J Pierce, r.

By Lawrence J: Pagenoarm Ll ATTORNEY 06L 1967 c. J. PIERCE, JR.. ETAL 3,348,655

DEVICE FOR DISENTANGLING AND CONVEY ING FLANGED RECEPTACLES Filed Dec. 6, 1966 '7 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORS. Chesfer 7. Pierce, Jr. Lawrence J Pagenaarm ATTORNEY Oct. 24, 1967 c. J. PIEQRCE, JR.. ETAL. 3,348,655

DEVICE FOR DISENTANGLING AND CONVEYING FLANGED RECEPTACLES Filed Dec. 6, 1966 '7 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTORS. Chas/er J P/erce, Jr.

BY LawrenceJ Ragendarm Och 1967 c. J. PIERCE, JR.. ETAL 3,348,655

DEVICE FOR DISENTANGLING AND CONVEYING FLANGED RECEPTACLES Filed Dec. 6, 1966 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 INVENTORS. Chas/er JI P/erce, r: BY Lawrence J Pagendarm A rrok/vm United States Patent Ofiice 3,348,655 Patented Oct. 24, 1967 3,348,655 DEVICE FOR DISENTANGLING AND CONVEYING FLANGE!) RECEPTACLES Chester J. Pierce, Jr., Palo Alto, and Lawrence J. Pagendarm, Redwood City, Calif., assignors to Kliklok Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 6, 1966, Ser. No. 599,432 5 Claims. (Cl. 19834) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This device, see FIG. 7, separates flanged articles by the use of a low speed infeed conveyor; a coplanar receiving conveyor which operates at a speed higher than that of the first conveyor; and an intermediate wheel which runs at an intermediate speed. The wheel lifts articles from the infeed conveyor and lowers the articles onto the receiving conveyor thereby effecting the separation function.

The packaging of flanged receptacles, such as frozen food trays, in folding boxes by automatic equipment requires the feeding of the receptacles, one by one, and accurately spaced, to the packaging station at which a series of folding boxes, one by one, and correspondingly paced, arrive, thus permitting the receptacles to be inserted into the boxes.

The filling operation of the receptacles with food or other merchandise is normally subject to irregularities, as a result of which the receptacles are crowded within one portion of the path along which the receptacles travel from the filling to the packaging station. The presence of a flange on the receptacle, for example on a frozen food tray, gives rise to occasional overlapping of flanges of successive receptacle, as a result of which the receptacles are diflicult to separate as application of a conveying force applied to one receptacle often causes the next receptable to be dragged along if the rims or flanges of the two receptacles become entangled.

This condition is aggravated in cases where the trays are sealed by a foil cover which is folded under the rim or flange, resulting in an irregular or rough under surface which is more likely to interlock 'with the rim or flange of the receptacle next in line than a smooth surface.

Unless the receptacles are properly separated and spaced, misfeeding occurs at the packaging station and both the box line as well as the receptacle line must be brought to a halt.

The present invention provides an improved device for disentangling and conveying flanged receptacles and makes it possible to convey such receptacles properly separated accurately spaced, and at a predetermined linear rate of advance to a certain station, for example for insertion into boxes by automatic devices.

The objects, features and advantages of this invention will appear more fully from the detailed description which follows accompanied by drawings showing, for the urpose of illustration, a preferred embodiment of the invention. The invention also resides in certain new and original features of construction and combination of elements hereinafter set forth and claimed.-

Although the characteristic features of the invention which are believed to be novel will be particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto, the invention itself, its objects and advantages and the manner in which it may be carried out may be better understood by referring to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part of it in which:

FIGS. 1 to 5 are perspective views of a conveying device embodying the invention, the figures showing the device in successive stages of operation;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the device of FIGS. 1 to 5 without trays to illustrate structural details; and

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating details of the conveyor drive and also linear speed relationships.

In the following description and in the claims various details will be identified by specific names for convenience. The names, however, are intended to be generic in their application. Corresponding reference characters refer to corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

The drawings accompanying, and forming part of, this specification disclose certain specific details of construction for the purpose of explanation of broader aspects of the invention, but it should be understood that structural details may be modified in various respects and that the invention may be incorporated in other structural forms than shown.

Beginning with FIG. 6 the conveying device comprises a first or infeed conveyor 11 composed of four parallel endless friction belts 12, 13, 14, 15. The far portions of the belts are trained around nondriven pulleys on a shaft 16, three of the pulleys being visible at 17, 18, 19. The near portions of the belts of the first or infeed conveyor 11 are trained around four pulleys, of which three are visible at 20, 21 and 22. These are keyed on an intermediate drive shaft 23 and rotate with it, thus imparting to the infeed conveyor 11 a linear velocity v (see also FIG. 7). I

In order to indicate the speed relationship of the various conveying elements single, double, triple and quadruple markers were aflixed to the elements prior to taking photographs from which the figures are traced. The single marker representing v appears at 24.

An intermediate conveying element is provide-d for grasping receptacles conveyed by the conveyor 11, ac-

. celerating it to a velocity v and tilting it simultaneously.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention the intermediate conveying element has the form of a wheel or drum 25 fixedly mounted on the drive shaft 23 to rotate therewith. The diameter of the wheel 25, which has a friction covering 26 applied to its periphery, is so chosen as to exceed the diameter of the driven ulleys 20, 21, 22 including the two thicknesses of the belts 12, 13, etc. trained thereover. The periphery of the wheel 25, 26, therefore protrudes above the plane represented by the upper receptacle-carrying surfaces of the infeed conveyor belts. For this reason linear velocity v of peripheral points of the Wheel 25, 26 exceeds the linear velocity v of the conveyor 11. This is indicated by a double marker 27. The wheel 25, 26 also represents a hump causing receptacles moving over it first to uptilt and then to downtilt, as will later be described.

A third conveyor is composed of two belts 28 and 29 extending over idler pulleys 30, 31 freely rotatable on the shaft 23. The near portions of the conveyor belts 28, 29 are trained around driven pulleys which are beyond the boundary of the illustration, but are indicated in FIG. 7 at 32 on a drive shaft 33 driven at a rotational velocity such as to move the belts 28 and 29 at a velocity v indicated by triple marker 34 and exceeding v There is, finally, a fourth or carry-out conveyor 35 which is operated to move at a linear velocity 1 as indicated by quandruple marker 36. This conveyor comprises a chain 37 in the illustrated embodiment, the chain having tiltable lugs 38 attached to it. Three lugs are visible. The lug 38 on the left is below the level & a receptacle resting on belts 28, 29, after being deposited thereon by the wheel 25, 26, initially moves at a velocity v until a lug 38 rises behind the receptacle and pushes it along at the higher velocity v causing it to slide on the belts 28, 29.

The receptacle is then accurately timed for insertion into a box or for any other operation requiring accurate timing.

Turning next to the operation of the device of FIG. 6, a series of covered trays 41, 42, 43, 44 and 45 are seen to arrive from the left in FIGS. 1 to 5. The trays abut one another, or their rims or flanges overlap. In order to prevent trays from climbing over other trays a hold down rail 39 is provided.

When the trays arrived the trailing flange of tray 41 rested under the leading flange of tray 42. This presented the danger that acceleration of tray 41 in order to space it from tray 42 would not lead to separation of the trays, as tray 41 would drag tray 42 along.

When the tray 41 encounters the wheel 25, 26 which protrudes above the level of the infeed conveyor (11 in FIG. 6) the tray 41 is uptilted causing its trailing flange to dip down and separate from under the leading flange of tray 42.

In order to Flake the uptilt more clearly apparent, a tape marker 40 was attached to a lateral rail 57 of the machine to establish a horizontal reference line.

Simultaneously with the tilting of the tray 41 the tray is accelerated to the higher velocity v of the wheel and then deposited on the conveyor 28, 29 moving even faster at v The result is a separation of trays 41 and 42 as is seen in FIG. 2.

It is seen from FIG. 1 that the trailing flange of tray 42 rests under the leading rim of tray 43. The disentanglement of these two trays takes place in the same manner as described in connection with trays 41 and 42. FIG. 2 shows tray 42 uptilted so that a small gap appears between its trailing flange and the leading flange of tray 43.

FIG. 3 shows the completed separation of trays 42 and 43. It is also seen that the trailing flange of tray 43 rests on top of the leading flange of tray 44, a condition which cannot be cured by uptilting the tray 43. But as is seen from FIG. 4, the separation occurs as the tray 43 is down-tlited when it is being deposited by the wheel 25, 26 (FIG. 6) onto belts 28, 29.

The separation is complete at the stage of operation illustrated in FIG. 5. This figure also shows a conveyor lug 38 which has risen behind tray 41 and is about to engage and propel it. Tray 44 is in its down tilted position and is disentangled from tray 45.

The drive of the various conveyor elements may obviously be effected in various ways in order to produce the described velocity relationship of v v v v A particularly simple arrangement employing belt pulleys of the same diameter D is shown in FIG. 7.

Starting at the left, shaft 16 and pulley 17 are nondriven. The conveyor 12 is driven at a velocity v by the drive pulley 20 on shaft 23. Conveyor wheel 25, 26 is fixed on the shaft, but has a diameter in excess of D and its peripheral velocity v exceeds v Belt 28 is driven by pulley 32 and shaft 33 and moves at V3.

The conveyor chain 37 and lugs 38 move at the velocity v and are driven by a pulley 46 fixed on a shaft 47. Shaft 47 has a sprocket gear 48 keyed thereto. The sprocket gear 48 has 13 teeth, as against a 23-tooth sprocket gear 49 on the shaft 23. The shaft 33 carries a sprocket gear 50 driven by a chain 51. A drive chain 52 extends over sprocket gears 48, 49 and 53.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for continuously disentangling and conveying flanged receptacles, such as trays, susceptible to entanglement by overlapping of their flanges, the device comprising, in combination, a first conveyor providing an upper first conveying surface on which the receptacles are conveyed; a second conveyor providing an upper second conveying surface substantially in the same plane as the said first surface for receiving receptacles conveyed by said first conveyor and conveying them further, the second conveyor being driven to move at a higher linear rate than the first conveyor; and an intermediate third conveyor driven at a linear rate higher than the first conveyor and less than the second conveyor, said third conveyor projecting above said plane, intermediate said first and second conveyors, so as to uptilt receptacles received by it from the first conveyor, and subsequently down-tilt receptacles delivered by it to said second conveyor, all three conveyors being driven continuously.

2. A device according to claim 1 in which said third conveyor is a wheel.

3. A device for disentangling and conveying flanged receptacles, such as trays, susceptible to entanglement by overlapping of their flanges, the device comprising, in combination, an intermediate shaft driven at a certain rate; a pair of first drive pulleys fixed thereon to rotate therewith; a pair of first conveyor belts trained over said drive pulleys, the upper run of said first belts lying in a certain plane; a pair of idler pulleys on said shaft; a pair of second conveyor belts trained over said idler pulleys; a second drive shaft; a pair of second drive pulleys fixed on said second shaft over which said second pulleys said second belts are trained, said second drive pulleys moving at a higher peripheral speed than said first pulleys so as to move said second belts at a higher linear rate than the rate of the first belts, the upper run of the second belts lying in substantially said certain plane; and a conveyor wheel fixed on said intermediate shaft, said wheel having a peripheral friction surface projecting above said plane and moving at a peripheral linear rate higher than the linear rate of the first belts and less than the linear rate of said second belts, said wheel forming a hump uptilting and downti'lting receptacles moving from said first belts onto said second belts.

4. A device according to claim 3 in which a further final conveyor is provided comprising lugs for positively advancing receptacles, said final conveyor comprising an upper run rising from a level below the plane of said second conveyor belts to a level in which its lugs extend above said plane at a point downstream with respect to said intermediate shaft, said final conveyor being driven at a linear rate higher than the said second belts for advancing receptacles positively at said last-recited higher rate and at spaced intervals equal to its lug spacing.

5. A device according to claim 3 in which there are four parallel and spaced first belts numbered one, two, three and four for the purpose of identification in this claim, and in which there are two parallel and spaced second belts, the second belts being disposed between numbers one and two and between numbers three and four, respectively, of the said first belts at said intermediate shaft, and in which said wheel is disposed between numbers two and three of the first belts.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,743,000 4/1956 Hedlund 198--34 8,019,882 2/ 1962 Pearson 19 834 3,080,042 3/ 1963 Sherman 19834 3,209,890 10/1965 Miles 19834 EDWARD A. SROKA, Prim ry Ex miner. 

1. A DEVICE FOR CONTINUOUSLY DISENTANGLING AND CONVEYING FLANGE RECEPTACLES, SUCH AS TRAYS, SUSCEPTIBLE TO ENTANGLEMENT BY OVERLAPPING OF THEIR FLANGES, THE DEVICE COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A FIRST CONVEYOR PROVIDING AN UPPER FIRST CONVEYING SURFACE ON WHICH THE RECEPTACLES ARE CONVEYED; A SECOND CONVEYED PROVIDING AN UPPER SECOND CONVEYING SURFACE SUBSTANTIALLY IN THE SAME PLANE AS THE SAID FIRST SURFACE FOR RECEIVING RECEPTACLES CONVEYED BY SAID FIRST CONVEYOR AND CONVERYING THEM FURTHER, THE SECOND CONVEYOR BEING DRIVEN TO MOVE AT A HIGHER LINEAR RATE THAN THE FIRST CONVEYOR; AND AN INTERMEDIATE THIRD CONVEYOR DRIVEN AT A LINEAR RATE HIGHER THAN THE FIRST CONVEYOR AND LESS THAN THE SECOND CONVEYOR, SAID THIR CONVEYOR PROJECTING ABOVE SAID PLANE, INTERMEDIATE SAID FIRST AND SECOND CONVEYORS, SO AS TO UPTILT RECEPTACLES RECEIVED BY IT FROM THE FIRST CONVEYOR; AND SUBSEQUENTLY DOWN-TILT RECEPTACLES DELIVERED BY IT TO SAID SECOND CONVEYOR, ALL THREE CONVEYORS BEING DRIVEN CONTINUOUSLY. 